Tag Archives: quiltary

Music Monday 11.1.10 Sufjan Stevens

Posted on by under #musicmonday, Nom Now, Poster

Surprise, surprise, surprise. Sufjan’s yet again at the top of my listening charts this week. The fact that he was a discography the size of the real Illinois certainly helps, but it’s mostly because by the time I’m done listening to to one album, I want to move onto another. This process can go on for sometime as he’s got quite the range of albums stylistically.

Anyway, some of you may know that the name “Sufjan” means “comes with a sword.” And that is the key to this poster. Sufjan’s sword is certainly not literal, but it is absolutely metaphorical.

I also finally got a chance to see Local Natives this past week. And boy oh boy, really glad that happened. They said the first time they played Philly it was for 2 people at The Khyber… all things considered, what an enormous way they’ve come. The Troc was packed to the brim, and it was shaking at times. I would certainly do your best to see them anytime you can.

Obsolete Vernacular

Posted on by under General

Here’s another compilation from the man with all the right moves, Biff Swenson. Biff came to me after the success of his first compilation, and asked if I’d like to work on the album art for the next one, and of course I did. As many of you may already know, this is an instrumental compilation aptly named Obsolete Vernacular. The title comes from the movie The Royal Tenenbaums from a scene in which Eli Cash is describing his first novel. The title actually ties in perfectly with instrumental music, as it’s an “obsolete vernacular” in its own way.

While I can’t take credit for the art in the sense of painting the leopard, I will say that Biff graciously gave me complete creative control and I was able to accomplish the idea I had. As soon as I re-watched the scene from The Royal Tenenbaums in the context of this compilation, I knew I wanted to use an old painting involving some sort of wild cat. (If you’re familiar with the scene, this connection is fairly obvious.) This was a great exercise in dealing with public domain images. I was able to find this really awesome painting, and with a few tweaks it was just what I wanted. The type I used for this is different from the stuff I would normally lean towards, but again, I think it fits really nicely is the context of this grouping of songs.

I was also lucky enough to be asked to submit a song to this, which I did quite willingly. It was a challenge writing a song that was intended to be instrumental from the get go. You can’t rely on melodies of lyrics to save you. While this wasn’t the first instrumental song I’ve written, it may have been the first I wrote on purpose. Along with my track comes 21 others, from all sorts of bands with no lack of heavy hitters. Just as the first compilation Biff put out, you would silly to not check it out. It has tons of new music to expose yourself to, and above all, it’s F R E E. Unbeatable. Hope you enjoy the tunes!

You can download the compilation here: http://www.mediafire.com/?bg27sr008hdgo
Or get hooked up on facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=136053693112331

Cassanova Cassettes

Posted on by under Printed Work

I’ve been working with Biff on his tape label that he started with Russell and John. Tapes are oddly enough coming back in a unique way and who am I to slow that train? (Trains are actually pretty cool.)

Anyway, so far I’ve been lucky enough to work on the artwork for both of their current releases , those of course being Quiltary’s Boys With Bottle Rockets EP and Into It. Over It.’s Covers Cassette. The art for both is below, and if you’re trying to move into the future (and the past,) buy one from their online store.

Grow That Beard Fest Infographic

Posted on by under Nom Now, Poster

So I saw today that John Bradley had put together an informational break down of who was playing when for Grow That Beard Fest, and it was pretty rough to say the least. John, I hope you don’t take offense to this, but I took the liberty of taking your basic idea and turning it into a pretty cool infographic. These are always fun to make, and this works as a nice companion piece to the flyer I made for the show earlier.

So here it is, everything is laid out nice and easy for you, so you can catch the bands you like, and miss the ones you don’t. Just kidding, don’t do that.

Grow That Beard Fest

Posted on by under Nom Now, Poster

So my main man, the king of Piscataway, John Bradley, asked if I would make a flyer for a bit of show he’s throwing at his basement better known as Isla Nublar and I was glad to throw something at him. And I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out, though not at all what I had originally set out to do. But sometimes I love when that happens.

This show features a pretty stacked line up, including a Quiltary appearance, which is something I’m glad is happening. This is happening towards the later days of summer, and if you can make it out to this, well, the more the merrier. Shows are supposed to be ridiculous and fun, and this one is a perfect opportunity for you to get wild. And it’s free!